this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2023
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Martin Scorsese is urging filmmakers to save cinema, by doubling down on his call to fight comic book movie culture.

The storied filmmaker is revisiting the topic of comic book movies in a new profile for GQ. Despite facing intense blowback from filmmakers, actors and the public for the 2019 comments he made slamming the Marvel Cinematic Universe films — he called them theme parks rather than actual cinema — Scorsese isn’t shying away from the topic.

“The danger there is what it’s doing to our culture,” he told GQ. “Because there are going to be generations now that think ... that’s what movies are.”

GQ’s Zach Baron posited that what Scorsese was saying might already be true, and the “Killers of the Flower Moon” filmmaker agreed.

“They already think that. Which means that we have to then fight back stronger. And it’s got to come from the grassroots level. It’s gotta come from the filmmakers themselves,” Scorsese continued to the outlet. “And you’ll have, you know, the Safdie brothers, and you’ll have Chris Nolan, you know what I mean? And hit ’em from all sides. Hit ’em from all sides, and don’t give up. ... Go reinvent. Don’t complain about it. But it’s true, because we’ve got to save cinema.”

Scorsese referred to movies inspired by comic books as “manufactured content” rather than cinema.

“It’s almost like AI making a film,” he said. “And that doesn’t mean that you don’t have incredible directors and special effects people doing beautiful artwork. But what does it mean? What do these films, what will it give you?”

His forthcoming film, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” had been on Scorsese’s wish list for several years; it’s based on David Grann’s 2017 nonfiction book of the same name. He called the story “a sober look at who we are as a culture.”

The film tells the true story of the murders of Osage Nation members by white settlers in the 1920s. DiCaprio originally was attached to play FBI investigator Tom White, who was sent to the Osage Nation within Oklahoma to probe the killings. The script, however, underwent a significant rewrite.

“After a certain point,” the filmmaker told Time, “I realized I was making a movie about all the white guys.”

The dramatic focus shifted from White’s investigation to the Osage and the circumstances that led to them being systematically killed with no consequences.

The character of White now is played by Jesse Plemons in a supporting role. DiCaprio stars as the husband of a Native American woman, Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone), an oil-rich Osage woman, and member of a conspiracy to kill her loved ones in an effort to steal her family fortune.

Scorsese worked closely with Osage Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear and his office from the beginning of production, consulting producer Chad Renfro told Time. On the first day of shooting, the Oscar-winning filmmaker had an elder of the nation come to set to say a prayer for the cast and crew.

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[–] sirdorius@programming.dev 45 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

I mean, can't we just have both? On some days I want to see a silly lighthearted action movie and on some days I want to see a heart wrenching story about the deepest darkest recesses of the human mind. It's not a zero sum game.

[–] pinkdrunkenelephants@sopuli.xyz 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The Barbie movie is a perfect example of the balance of pinache and meaning, and mainstream movies ought to learn from that.

[–] MargotRobbie@lemm.ee 10 points 1 year ago

And that lead actress, whoever she is, should totally get an Oscar for her performance this year.

[–] thoro@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 year ago

Something can be lighthearted or action based and still be interesting film making in contrast to the paint by numbers MCU films and some others.

It's pure action, but Fury Road is an example of a simple action movie that had thought put into the editing, cinematography, etc. Barbie is light hearted but similarly had some ideas to play with.

[–] KillAllPoorPeople@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

It literally is a zero sum game. Studios dump all their money into these types of movies and there's no money left over for the "story about the deepest darkest recesses of the human mind."

[–] SketchySeaBeast@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And yet A24 exists and continues to find success.

[–] KillAllPoorPeople@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

https://www.the-numbers.com/box-office-records/worldwide/all-movies/theatrical-distributors/a24

A24 has an online cult following, but they struggle at the box office even with wide releases.

[–] sirdorius@programming.dev 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

You are assuming that if Marvel movies didn't exist everyone would just go watch Requiem for a Dream instead, which is just silly. They target different audiences and the same people could choose to see one today and the other tomorrow. It's not like Oppenheimer was made by a bunch of indies scraping money on Kickstarter.

[–] KillAllPoorPeople@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year ago

I'm not assuming anything like that. That's you putting your ridiculous dichotomic outlook of any subject into someone else's mouth. There's a good chance if Requiem for a Dream required a 2023 movie budget, it wouldn't have even been made. An unknown director/writer with a 2023 budget with a movie like that? Ha. There would have been no option to see that the next day. Also, are you comparing Requiem for a Dream to Oppenheimer?

[–] anonono@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year ago

disney isn't the only one funding movies.

your regular $15m arty pantsy black and white movie isn't paid for the mouse.